Hitler’s Jurassic Monsters sheds new light on the Nazis’ terrifying vision for the future

It has been almost 70 years since the Nazis were defeated, but the reality of their terrifying vision for the future is still only just coming to light.

And now a documentary by National Geographic has focussed on the largely unknown Nazi plan involving not humans, but animals.

Because as well as being obsessed with the idea of creating a perfect Aryan race, the Nazis were also attempting to take control of the animal kingdom.

And their plan wasn’t far off the plot of early-90s film Jurassic Park.

But instead of recreating a land of dinosaurs, the Nazis attempted to recreate the primeval forests of Germanic folklore stocked with ancient breeds of beasts for ultimate hunting sessions (yes, they were attempting to recreate extinct animals, just so they could then hunt them).

Lutz Heck post-war (Picture: National Geographic)

The brains behind the plan were zoologist brothers Lutz and Heinz Heck. Their plan actually started as a private project before the Nazis came to power, but it wasn’t long before Lutz embraced the new regime and became good friends with Hermann Göring, Hitler’s second in command.

There were two aspects to the plan – the animals and the land.

The two creatures they focused on (although it seems they were working on trying to back-breed a few) were auroch (a super-sized, wild and violent breed of cattle) and tarpan (the wild and aggressive ancestor of the modern horse).

Then there was the land. The area the Nazis earmarked for this project was the primeval Bialowieza forest in Poland, which was home to packs of wolves, the elusive Eurasian Lynx, the European moose, and some of the last surviving European bison.

Senior Nazi’s looking at a model of the Bialowieza forest (Picture: National Geographic)

So how far did they get in completing this plan?

Well pretty far. Sort of.

They gained control of the land when they invaded Poland, and in true Nazi style they immediately set about ethnically cleansing it. In three years they cleared 20,000 people including a large Jewish population who they either executed on the spot or sent off to concentration camps.

An Auroch skull (Picture: Quickfire Media/Sam Gracey)

And what about the animals? Well it took him 14 years, but Lutz Heck did manage to breed what he thought was an auroch, which he subsequently released into the Bialowieza forest. But while it may have resembled the ancient creature physically, scientists say they are no closer genetically than any other cattle.

Today the forest flourishes as a vast nature reserve between Poland and Belarus, and is still a major sanctuary for rare wildlife including wild bison. But what happened to the Nazis’ faux-aurochs? Well that still remains a bit of a mystery, but it’s thought the aurochs were probably slaughtered by partisans or Soviet officials.

Hitler’s Jurassic Monsters is repeated on National Geographic Channel Wednesday June 18, 4pm, and Friday June 20, 1pm.